Another staple of the previous Aston Martin engineering team is set to leave after the 2026 Formula One season.
Aston Martin F1 Team will lose another long-tenured engineer after this season. Per F1.com's sources, Tom McCullough will leave the team at the end of the current F1 campaign. There's no report yet of where McCullough is headed after his 12-year tenure at Aston Martin's franchise.
Who is Tom McCullough?
McCullough is a former amateur racing driver, as he previously competed in Formula Ford 2000 events. But he would veer slightly away from the track and into the garage, entering Le Mans and IndyCar as an engineer at Reynard Motorsport.
In 2002, Williams Racing F1 took notice of McCullough's talent and hired him as a data engineer. Then, Williams transitioned him to the coveted race engineer role, allowing him to work directly with Nico Hulkenberg, Rubens Barrichello, and Bruno Senna.
In 2013, McCullough left Williams to work as head of track engineering at Sauber. Right after that year, he transferred to Force India to lead the team's trackside engineering division.
Since then, the 50-year-old engineer has spent his F1 career with the Force India franchise, which is currently renamed Aston Martin.
The 2025 organizational restructuring at Aston Martin
But in 2025, Aston Martin's then-team principal Andy Cowell announced an operational reshuffle within the team.
With Cowell taking over team principal duties from Mike Krack, the latter was moved into the position of chief trackside officer. This meant that Krack would handle most of the responsibilities previously assumed by McCollough.
Aston Martin decided to move McCullough into a leadership role at the Performance Technologies division, albeit outside their core F1 operation.
How will McCullough's departure affect Aston Martin in 2027?
The team will surely miss McCullough's experience and continuity, as he has been a part of the franchise's identity for more than a decade.
But the long-time engineer has already been outside Aston Martin's core F1 technical structure since the 2025 reshuffle. As for car development, McCullough's departure won't directly impact the team, especially with Adrian Newey confirming the early work on the 2027 car.
If anything, the pressure is mounting on Aston Martin's leadership to turn their fortunes around. They started the first year of the new regulations on the wrong foot, drastically lagging behind other teams in pace and reliability.
Plus, they're waiting on Fernando Alonso's decision on whether he extends with the team after his contract ends this year.
They did bring a decent upgrade package during the recent Hungarian Grand Prix. But Aston Martin still has more questions left unanswered heading into the second half of the season.
